


Behind the Monsters

by Laylah



Series: boys of summer [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake RPF, Gen, Interviews, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-14
Updated: 2007-07-14
Packaged: 2017-10-21 09:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/223724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laylah/pseuds/Laylah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The movie star AU. Archer gives an interview after the crew have finished up their second film together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Behind the Monsters

_The indie success of Bradley King’s first two films — **Red Stone Rush** just took home this year’s Best Picture at the Alchimia Awards — has a whole new crop of talent in town. Bradley’s core crew are developing a reputation for being dedicated, uncompromising, willing to take risks even in familiar genres — and, in one or two cases, for being the sort of people you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley at night. **Qurious** caught up with Frank Archer at his brand-new Malibu condo to meet the man behind the monsters._

Q: So, is it “Frank” or “Archer”?

A: Only my mother calls me Frank.

Q: Like Kimberly, then. What does he call you?

A: I’m not sure you and I are that good of friends just yet. [laughs]

Q: All right, we’ll get to that. I’ll start with the question everyone probably asks, so we can get it out of the way. You first caught the public’s eye as Robin Fletcher, the knife-happy sociopath in _Chain Reaction_ , and then followed that up with Jay Bowman, the cold-blooded drug dealer in _Red Stone Rush_. Neither of them were terribly pleasant people, and they do have a certain amount of similarity between them….

A: [deadpan, in Robin Fletcher voice] That isn’t exactly a question, is it? [smiles] Do I get off on playing the bad guys, you mean? Does it appeal to me? …I suppose it does, in a way. I’m sure if you asked anyone who’s done some really good villains, if you asked Chris Walken or — god, if you asked Anthony Hopkins — you’d hear a bit of the same thing. It’s freeing. There’s something exciting about being able to be completely horrible for a little while, in front of people, even, and get away with it. Having to play parts like Roy [Mustang]’s would be such a drag, I really think. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.

Q: When you go to a premiere, and he’s the one the fans are screaming for.

A: Exactly. “Ah, he might have the love and adoration of thousands of women he’s never even met, but at least I get to be awful to him on set all day.” There really is more meat to the villains’ parts, in a lot of shows. More of a chance to get outside your everyday life, to behave in ways you can’t normally.

Q: So your friends don’t see much of you in those guys, then?

A: I’ve never slit anyone’s throat in my entire life, to be honest with you. Even the truly dreadful downstairs neighbors I had in Vegas when we were working on _Reaction_ , who would play this awful music at all hours when I was just staggering home from the set and needed sleep so badly it was painful. I might have thought about stabbing them once or twice. But I didn’t.

Q: That sounds unpleasant.

A: Well, it did help me to be in character at all times. I showed up every day already full of loathing for the entire species. Eventually Kimberly talked me into staying over with him and sleeping on his couch when we had a big day coming up — he had this appalling, lumpy couch; we were all so broke at that point — which was better than no sleep at all, but still.

Q: Do you suppose that’s where the rumors got started?

A: What, with him inviting me to stay over? [laughs] I suppose it might have been.

Q: I don’t even have to say what rumors.

A: Unless you’re going to tell me that there are new ones, that somebody’s gossiping about me and Greed, or something, then I think I can guess.

Q: Oh dear. _Should_ people be gossiping about you and Greed?

A: No.

Q: Very certain about that.

A: He’d hog the entire bed, and he’d steal the covers. You can tell just looking at him.

Q: But if it weren’t for that?

A: [Fletcher voice again] Next question, please.

Q: [laughs] Right, right. Wouldn’t want to ruin your no-stabbing record. I do have to ask about that scene in — all right, I want to ask about both of them. But let’s start with _Reaction_. Was it awkward at all, doing that kiss?

A: It wasn’t, especially. By the time we actually shot that scene we’d done a lot of the rest of the film, so we were already pretty comfortable with each other. Kimberly was always completely professional on-set, and that helped, too. Really, I think — I think if it was awkward at all, it was awkward in the same way as the scene where I had to beat the [expletive] out of Riza [Hawkeye] in _Red Stone_. It’s a little nerve-wracking to do a scene where you’re playing opposite someone you respect, and they’re doing a good job of panicking.

Q: The nice guy shows through underneath the villain.

A: And now my secret is out.

Q: The audience gets a jump cut there, so we don’t see what happens next. Did they stop with just a kiss?

A: No. I — all right, Bradley never said so explicitly; we didn’t talk about everything that went on between scenes, unless it mattered a good deal to the plot. And for the heist’s sake, all that mattered was that Mark [Jenner, Kimberly’s character] was still shaky when he went to set the bomb, and that could have been just from the kiss, just from being outed. But I don’t think it stopped there, no. Robin takes things apart, and especially people, and he would have been fascinated at how much Mark was terrified of getting something he supposedly wanted. Mark was much younger, much less confident, and most importantly didn’t have the knife.

Q: That doesn’t sound like it would have been such a good time.

A: It would have been too much, I think. The film wasn’t really about that. The incident between Robin and Mark was just one more little glitch on the way to the heist itself.

Q: Unlike in _Red Stone Rush_ , which was considerably more explicit.

A: Yes, well. _Red Stone_ really was about that kind of desperation. About what you’re willing to do for your addictions.

Q: Yes. Which turns out to be quite a lot. How did it feel to work on the — I’m sorry, there’s no polite way to put this –

A: The blowjob scene? [laughs] There really isn’t. It’s all right. It’s an awful moment. Someday we’ll stop playing characters who have such unhealthy relationships to each other. Doing that scene, I won’t lie, was extremely awkward for both of us. There are few things that are _less_ erotic than pretending to have coerced sex on a movie set, with two dozen people around watching you and filming from different angles, and the director is constantly calling a halt so he can change the lighting.

Q: It certainly looked convincing, in the final cut!

A: I’m going to blame that entirely on Bradley, and on the editors. I’m sure when the DVD comes out, there will be outtakes of all the times when Kimberly and I can’t keep a straight face for that scene. So to speak.

Q: And then, well, at least according to rumor, the two of you would go out drinking after shooting wrapped for the day.

A: Once or twice, at least, yes. And I want to make it clear that I didn’t extort anything out of him at all in exchange for the drinks I bought.

Q: Your chemistry on-screen is awfully compelling. And you definitely seem comfortable with each other at premieres, at interviews. Is there actually something going on?

A: You know, it’s — I think it’s a terrible shame, and I have so much sympathy for the _Lord of the Rings_ cast lately. I remember when this sort of thing was going around about them, when they’d show up places or go on television and be willing to touch each other. And I think I saw something in one of those interviews where one of them, and I’d swear it was Dom Monaghan but I could be wrong, but one of them said he thought it was a real shame that men in our culture can’t get away with expressing any affection for each other without people making assumptions. And I do think that’s terrible.

Q: All right. We’ll leave that alone, then. What about in future films? Like you said, you’ve been playing characters who have unhealthy relationships with each other — any chance of something more romantic in the future?

A: I hope so. He’s an excellent kisser.

Q: You won’t dispel any rumors like that.

A: [laughs] No, I suppose I won’t. Seriously, there aren’t any plans. The thing we’re working on now is very different, for all of us, a very different kind of story. More of a boy’s quest sort of thing, using the theme of alchemy — alchemy as a science, really, as the kind of science so advanced it’s indistinguishable from magic. Now that we’ve had a success or two, of course, there’s a budget for doing something like that. And I get to play this horrible scheming military man who tries to thwart the main character’s quest because of his own need for power. There’s no sex in it at all. Not even any kissing. At least not in the parts of the script that I’ve seen.

Q: A little more family-friendly, then?

A: Probably still too bloody for the little ones. There’s a war, and all that. Dark themes, the alchemy is a very serious business with nasty consequences. But it’s not quite so much about sex and drugs this time. It’ll be good for all of us.

Q: The way you talk about your group — I’ve heard some of the others in the cast, Greed at the _Red Stone_ premiere, Jean Havoc in an interview with _EW_ — say that it’s like a family. You make it sound like you feel that way, too.

A: Oh, absolutely. We’ve spent so much time together on these things, done so much to look out for each other. It’s really been wonderful. Even people that I don’t — well, I mean, I don’t get along with any of them on-screen, but I think off-camera we’re all really good to each other.

Q: Any other plans in your immediate future, apart from the new film?

A: I’m thinking about getting a kitten. I’m hoping it’ll be good for my image. Either that or I’ll teach him to sit in my lap so I can pet him while I make my dastardly plans.

Q: Pets _are_ supposed to be good for your blood pressure. Calming.

A: Exactly. So it’s a win-win situation.

Q: You’re checking your watch. Are we out of time already?

A: I’m afraid so. It’s a demanding schedule, when you’re a movie star.

Q: Places to go, people to see.

A: Rumors to feed.

Q: Indeed. Give Kimberly a kiss for me.

A: [laughs] No promises.

Q: Seriously, thank you for your time.

A: It’s been a pleasure.


End file.
